The storm throbbed beyond the windows, its rumble crawling down the walls like a living thing. Raindrops streaked the glass like silver veins, and the room had turned golden-orange from the city lights that flickered against the wet.
Maya stood at the sink, fingertips trailing through the steam curling from her mug of tea. Her hospital gown hung loosely off one shoulder, revealing the curve of her collarbone — pale and fragile, like porcelain on the edge of cracking.
Liam leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, but his gaze… it was tethered to her. She wasn't just recovering now — she was transforming, and there was something magnetic in the way she moved, something fierce awakening beneath the softness of her skin.
"You're staring again," she murmured without turning, her voice low and laced with tired amusement.
Liam didn't deny it. "I'm afraid if I blink, you'll disappear."
She turned slowly, her eyes catching his — not hazy like before, but sharp, burning. "And if I don't…?"
He stepped forward, slowly, like approaching a flame you know will burn — but the cold around you leaves no choice.
"I saw what they did to you," he said, voice rough. "What they tried to erase."
She tilted her head. "And what if I'm not who I used to be?"
"Then I'll fall in love with who you are now."
Her breath caught.
Silence stretched between them. Heavy. Breathless. Intimate.
She reached out, brushing her fingers down his forearm, the contact feather-light, but electric. "I remember your scent," she whispered. "Pine… and danger."
"And you?" he said, stepping even closer, now inches away. "You smell like memory… and fire I can't put out."
The rain hammered harder. Thunder cracked the sky.
His hand lifted, brushing her damp hair behind her ear. His thumb lingered at the corner of her jaw, eyes dropping to her lips — parted, unsure, but wanting.
"Maya," he said her name like a prayer.
"Don't ask," she whispered.
And then she pulled him in.
Their lips met with a hunger that had waited too long. It wasn't sweet — it was desperate. A collision of need, pain, and longing. His hands tangled in her hair, hers slid beneath his shirt — skin to skin, heart to heart.
The kiss deepened, teeth clashing, breath stolen. For a second, there was no virus, no secrets, no file… just them. Heat. Want. Connection forged through fire and survival.
But then—
The lights flickered. Again.
And her nose bled.
Maya gasped, pulling back, one hand going to her face as pain ripped through her temple.
Liam caught her before she fell. "Maya—!"
Her eyes rolled back. Her body seized for a moment. And then she whispered a name neither of them recognized.
"Kai…?"
Lightning shattered the sky.
The tension broke — but the flame had been lit.
And now… they couldn't turn back.